Teach Soap

I had a heck of a time unmolding some soaps last night and after most of my knuckles cracked, I decided perhaps I would be better off switching mainly to silicone molds. What do you think? Upfront Cost-wise, they're more expensive, but are they worth it long term?

I have a couple flexible molds and I think they are great! I have found that putting my plastic molds in the freezer for a bit helps the soap pop out pretty easily

Yeah, that's what I did, but then they tend to sweat more, and faster. Plus there's still more arm and finger strain with the plastic ones, I think. I have some ergo bar molds from BB that are the flexi ones, and they are SOOOOOOO much easier to unmold. I wish there were more shapes available in silicone, though.

do a search on ebay for silicone mold

Is this for MP or CP?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

MP!

I LOVE silicone molds... always prefer them, but yes, they are harder to find and usually more expensive.

Plastic molds should not be too tough though, the most troubles come if you are trying to unmold them too soon. MP can take up to 24 hours to come nicely out. CP can be a couple days, up to a week depending on your recipe.... If you need to the fridge is okay to use for either method.

is the fridge better than the freezer? I put them in the freezer yesterday, and the mold was the heavy grade plastic kind, not the clear plastic thinner variety.

Ok Soapbuddy. When you asked if they're for MP or CP.... what are you implying? I just purchased some silicon molds from Amazon (great prices BTW) and plan to use them for lotion bars. I was also planning to use them for CP.

But I'm guessing by your question that I shouldn't use it for CP also?

To frimfram: I think that the silicone molds are better or flexible than the plastic ones'. They are more expensive,but they are so worth it. The ones' that are silicone ice cube tray ones' are not that expensive. You should only use the plastic molds when it's a special form you want. You can usually find them on:www.thefind.com or http://www.amazon.com just look for silicone molds or silicone ice cube trays. Also there's a couple of sites that have some nice molds,they're small molds but you can always make the soap and embed it into a big clear one. These are the sites:www.flexiblemolds.com and http://www.firstimpressionsmolds.com. I hope that helps you

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Cool. I want to use the silicon for CP but wasn't sure. Thanks soapbuddy.

To frimfram: I also forgot to mention to you a site : http://www.wholesalesupplyplus.com. They have great silicone molds. They're a very good quality. When you order them they also have free shipping on them.

I prefer the fridge rather than the freezer, easier on the molds. They can become brittle from a lot of freezing... Also, the fridge seems to make them sweat less than the freezer, but where you live can affect that as well, so that will change for everyone.

thanks wildchild, that site wasn't a soap making page, did you mean WSP?